TREASURE

TREASURE was YG Entertainment's first new boy group after iKON. The long gap between boy-group debuts created significant anticipation around YG Treasure Box and the company's next generation of male artists.

• TREASURE's lineup wasn't originally supposed to exist in its current form. YG initially planned two separate groups—TREASURE and MAGNUM—that would combine as TREASURE 13.

• Ha Yoonbin would have been TREASURE's 13th member under the original plan. He left YG before the group's official debut, resulting in the 12-member lineup that debuted in 2020.

• The group has two leaders rather than one. Choi Hyunsuk and Jihoon share leadership responsibilities, giving TREASURE one of K-pop's better-known co-leader structures.

• TREASURE debuted during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the group spent an unusual portion of its rookie period performing without normal live audiences.

• Their debut era moved extremely quickly. YG released The First Step: Chapter One, Chapter Two and Chapter Three within only a few months in 2020.

• Those releases culminated in TREASURE's first studio album, The First Step: Treasure Effect, in January 2021. The project completed the group's introductory THE FIRST STEP series.

• TREASURE's reality series TREASURE MAP became an important part of the group's identity. The show allowed fans to become familiar with the members' personalities through games, challenges, travel and everyday activities.

• The group has three Japanese members in its current lineup: Yoshi, Asahi and Haruto. Mashiho made four Japanese members during TREASURE's original lineup.

• Several TREASURE members learned Korean after moving from Japan. Their careers required them to train, record, perform and eventually participate in songwriting in a language they didn't grow up speaking.

• Yoshi has Korean ancestry despite being born and raised in Japan. His background makes TREASURE's multinational identity slightly more complex than simply dividing the members into Korean and Japanese categories.

• TREASURE's rap line writes much of its own rap material. Hyunsuk, Yoshi and Haruto have accumulated lyric credits across the group's discography.

• Asahi became involved in composing remarkably early. He helped create "ORANGE" during TREASURE's debut-era THE FIRST STEP releases.

• Junkyu later emerged as another major songwriting member. His work on T5's "MOVE" demonstrated that TREASURE's creative participation extends beyond the rap line.

• Park Jeongwoo and So Junghwan knew each other before YG. They attended the same vocal academy in Iksan and auditioned for YG together before eventually debuting in the same group.

• Yoon Jaehyuk had a much shorter training period than several of his bandmates. His rapid improvement became one of the memorable storylines of YG Treasure Box.

• Doyoung experienced almost the opposite path. He entered YG while extremely young and spent a substantial part of his childhood inside the company's trainee system.

• Junkyu and Hyunsuk competed on MIXNINE before YG Treasure Box. Hyunsuk even finished among the winning male contestants, but the planned group from the show never debuted.

• Bang Yedam was famous years before TREASURE existed. He finished second on K-Pop Star 2 as a child and spent approximately seven years at YG before finally debuting.

• Several TREASURE members appeared on television before YG Treasure Box. YG trainees including Bang Yedam, Doyoung and others appeared during the YG-versus-JYP battle on Mnet's Stray Kids in 2017.

• So Junghwan performed with K-Tigers before becoming an idol. His background in taekwondo performance gave him athletic and acrobatic skills before he began formal idol training.

• Junkyu worked as a child model before joining YG. His polished childhood photographs are hilariously at odds with the famously homebody personality fans later discovered.

• Mashiho was known for acrobatics and dance during TREASURE's original lineup. He had started dancing as a young child before eventually joining YG's Japanese trainee system.

• TREASURE underwent its biggest lineup change in 2022. Mashiho and Bang Yedam first paused activities before both officially left the group and YG Entertainment in November.

• TREASURE continued as ten members rather than replacing them. The remaining lineup reorganized its performances and vocal distribution around the ten-member structure.

• Both former members eventually resumed music careers outside YG. Bang Yedam became a solo singer-songwriter and producer, while Mashiho returned as an independent Japanese solo artist.

• Japan has become one of TREASURE's most important markets. The group has mounted extensive Japanese tours and performed at major arena and dome venues across the country.

• TREASURE's Japanese members often help bridge communication during Japanese promotions. Yoshi, Asahi and Haruto can naturally communicate with Japanese audiences while the Korean members have also studied Japanese for promotions.

• The group has performed Japanese versions of many of its Korean songs. Rather than limiting Japanese promotions to entirely separate singles, TREASURE has built a parallel Japanese discography around localized versions and original Japanese releases.

• TREASURE's music has gradually shifted from youthful rookie energy toward a more mature performance style. Comparing "BOY" with later releases such as "JIKJIN," "BONA BONA" and "KING KONG" makes the evolution particularly obvious.

• The members themselves have become increasingly involved in shaping that music. Hyunsuk, Yoshi, Haruto, Asahi and Junkyu are particularly notable for lyric-writing, composition or production credits.

• TREASURE has one of the widest age spreads among its original generation of YG trainees. Current oldest member Hyunsuk was born in 1999, while maknae Junghwan was born in 2005.

• Fans watched Junghwan grow up almost literally in real time. He first appeared on YG Treasure Box around age 13 and debuted at 15 before eventually graduating from high school as an established TREASURE member.

• The group's Japanese and Korean members trained together long before their international touring success. What eventually became a major advantage in Japan began with YG's decision to incorporate its Japanese trainee program into YG Treasure Box.

• TREASURE's history is essentially a story of plans repeatedly changing. A survival show produced seven members, then another six, then two proposed groups, then TREASURE 13, then one departure, then a 12-member debut, followed by two more departures and today's ten-member group.